The great Super Bowl moments are unforgettable. Croaking ‘Bud-wei-ser’ frogs. Cindy Crawford taking a long swig of Pepsi. Larry Byrd and Micheal Jordan shooting outrageous baskets for a McDonald’s burger. Oh, and the games were pretty good, too.
Super Bowl advertisements ‘ which skyrocketed in cost to $80,000 per second this year ’ have become as much of an anticipated event as the action on the football field. Mary Baldwin University students and professors will take the ad watching ‘ instead of the play calling ’ seriously this year as the college hosts its first Super Bowl of Advertising party.
Students and staff are invited to gather for food and drink beginning a half-hour before the 6:30 p.m. kickoff in the Nuthouse on the ground floor of Hunt Dining Hall. After watching each set of commercials on the lounge’s big screen TV, faculty panelists will make a few comments and open the floor up for student questions and thoughts until the next slot of ads. Associate Professor of Communication Alice Araujo, Assistant Professor of English Molly Petty, Assistant Professor of Art Jim Sconyers, and Assistant Professor of Sociology Carey Usher are slated to be part of the event.
Advertisers promise not to dissappoint viewers this year, after what many deemed as raunchy and distasteful ads during last year’s Super Bowl. A sampling of the line-up: Spike Lee and MC Hammer team up for a Lay’s Potato Chip spot; Pepsi brings back Cindy Crawford and adds Sean ‘P Diddy’ Combs; FedEx pairs Burt Reynolds and a dancing bear; Volvo features an astronaut in its first Super Bowl ad.